I see the flames coming from your window

I watch them burn

Your carpals flex

Your first two phalanges wave

Anticipating what’s next

Up to your mouth, encircling that skinny candy stick

I’m petrified as it touches your lips

Another puff en route to the grave

The vapor rises

As does your blood pressure

When you started did you know

You’d be in for so many surprises

Just trying to be cool, perhaps?

Tar and nicotine, arsenic

Without them now you can’t relax

Hydrogen cyanide

If you’d seen yourself then surely you would have cried

Carbon monoxide dethrones oxygen

For eight dollars you get your fix

Miss a dose and you get ticked

Your voice is raspy

The otolaryngologist smiles

You get irritated and yell at your spouse and child

You go again

Another puff and you’re more mild

The store clerk is glad

So is the person who cleans your car

Scrubbing and polishing to remove the stains of tar

Much like the dentist who drills your teeth

The dermatologist who sees what’s underneath

The cardiologist hears every beat

As your valves thicken

The vascular surgeon knows the clock is tickin

Blood sloshes down to your feet

At least as best it can

You can’t feel it anyway

You flick some ashes

As your bones decay

Another dose of formaldehyde

Another alveoli collapses

Your body acknowledges all these trespasses

Your lenses are clouded

You venture home past the medical offices

Not before one more light

A long day

You saw all the doctors and had your car cleaned

Got in a fight with your spouse

I sort of always thought you were mean

Today you survived a lot

Feeling fried

You ascend the dark steps to your house

Letting one final breath out

The medical examiner will know how you died